Cartoons, CGI, and Other Non-Anime Animation

So I checked out Beware the Batman today, specifically the first four episodes of season 1... uh... I mean, the season. It's pretty good. When Bat-Mite demanded a darker Batman cartoon, he sure got it (though, ironically, in some areas it could arguably be considered tamer than Batman: The Brave and the Bold in that a lot of the characters in Beware the Batman use these weird laser pistols instead of normal guns). They really took a huge gamble with this show, and obviously it didn't pay off in terms of profit, what with this show looking like it was pretty expensive to make and the lack of Batman's major rogue's gallery, but the fact that they took major risks by changing so many aspects of Batman's surroundings made this an intriguing little show. 

One thing I want to point out is the empty, dystopian feel the show's version of Gotham gives off. Burton's Gotham was a twisted, hellish nightmare ridiculously overcrowded with people, and this show's Gotham is almost a direct contrast to that image. Aside from the main characters, hardly any civilians can be seen in Gotham, and yeah, this is probably mainly due to budgetary reasons what with it being a fully CGI show, but I liked the suprising creepiness of a nearly empty Gotham. It's almost like the long-held fan complaint of "well, uh, why doesn't everyone just move out of Gotham, it's a shithole" was actually listened to by the creators of this show. 

I'll admit that I wasn't hugely impressed by the redesigned Professor Pyg and Mr. Toad. They didn't seem like particularly fitting antagonists for the pilot; Pyg perhaps could have been if his design had been more faithful to Grant Morrison's version, though I guess that Pyg might have been too grim. The show's versions of Magpie and Anarky, on the other hand, I found to be very good villains. Magpie's redesign is basically a bit like Catwoman but all of her prominent traits are taken up to eleven; Magpie's crazier than the craziest Catwoman, more kleptomaniacal than the most kleptomaniacal Catwoman, and possibly even more into sexual innuendos than any Catwoman too. I mean, Magpie's after Batman's "shiny belt", for Christ's sake, how did they get away with that? As for Anarky, I think that while they simplified him a lot he still had a good character design as Batman's exact opposite.

Overall, I think that I will be tuning in to more episodes on Amazon Prime, I say give it a try.